Final Travel Update For 2016

I can’t believe this is already my third and final recap of our travel for 2016! Where in the world did the last 366 days go?! Looking back, I can’t believe we were still able to see somewhere new every single month of this year. It resulted in some exhaustion but it was well worth it. I feel like we are leaving this year behind with some of the best memories we will ever make, and even more “best day ever’s”

While our plans changed some from the goals made in the first travel post, the USA has so much to see that we will always have more to explore. This year has taught us that we have many opportunities in our backyard and we would like to experience some of those for their first time as a family of more than two. Those days may be far away for us, but we really want the travel bug to remain a big part of our lives forever.

I will admit, I miss Europe SO MUCH. Traveling in the USA (and Mexico) this year was beautiful, adventures and fun, but I have a longing to get back to Europe ASAP. I feel like a different person there, it’s just so lovely. When can I move there and work from a beautiful home office looking down on the streets of Paris? Dreaming big over here!

Throughout this year we went on several trips, explored with various friends, and counted our blessings as we landed in many different states. I first shared our original travel plans for this year, and then an update, but this will be the final recap for this 2016, with only one trip remaining.

The recaps for these first 6 months of trips can be found in my last post, but as a recap, here is where we went.

January- Boone, North Carolina
February- New Orleans
March- Austin and Seattle
April- St. Louis

Since then, we have continued to visit new places.

In May we made our way to New England with stops in Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont. Each place was beautiful and had it’s own charm. I would absolutely love to spend more time in New Hampshire because it stole my nautical heart.

For our anniversary in June we opted to head outside of the USA and landed in Mexico. We had a beautiful vacation, which included my grandparents, and are dying to head back to beautiful Caribbean waters….and it so happens that we will one more time for this year!

July was a hot one in Louisville, but it was a city that took us by surprise. While we were sweating like crazy, we loved this city! I hope in the future that more people decide to travel to Kentucky and take in the culture…and alcohol 😉 I also went on a bachelorette trip to Nashville and kicked up some dust along broadway.

For August we decided to see new areas of somewhere we had already been while visiting family in Buffalo. I even managed to take a long weekend with my best friends to South Carolina, somewhere I hadn’t been since I was about 9!

In September, we parted ways when Dave went to Vegas for a bachelor party and I went to (finally) meet Meg in Charleston! It was such a fun weekend and I am so excited to be going back to that beautiful city with Dave.

October was for hiking and exploring Birmingham, Alabama. This was a more low-key weekend getaway and it was just what we needed. We drank, ate, hiked and ventured to a few places in the city and outside of the city. I love how so many destinations in the US are so off the map to most people, but we decided to travel there anyways.

Last month was a month for the books. I traveled to Dallas with my grandparents, cousin, her fiancé and 2,000+ Ravens fans to see our boys play the Cowboys. We had so much fun and that stadium is incredible. Our annual after Thanksgiving trip was to Disney World with our friends and we had a blast. Disney as an adult (before kids) is a must! More recaps on these trips are coming {soon}.

This month we decided to postpone our trip to Minnesota and booked a cruise to the Bahamas to ring in the New Year! Since I am obsessed with travel deals, I stumbled upon a great price for a 5-day cruise from Charleston. I’m very excited to see the city with Dave and friends for a night before we leave for the beaches of Nassau and Freeport!

If we had to do our traveling again in 2016, there are definitely some changes I would make, but everything we experienced gave us many lessons in our marriage, traveling, and exhaustion. I may do a post on this in the future because I think it is important to share both sides of traveling, not just the pretty things we share on Instagram.

Did you take any fun trips this year?